After a rather dramatic morning at the Grand Prix of Portugal, that saw three boats sidelined for tomorrow’s race, a scenes of calm and tranquillity that the Douro Royal Valley hotel is renowned for returned to the event, when qualifying past off without any need to get the rescue teams involved.
It could all have been very different though, because as the afternoon wore on a strong breeze had now developed and posting a quick time had almost become like a lottery.
Fortunately all the remaining drivers took the cautions route in their quest for a top ten ‘shoot-out’ place but it still took something special from Pierre Lundin to post the fastest time of the day. “I was a little worried when I saw the time Temper had posted” said the Swede. “I couldn’t feel any breeze as I sat and watched him put his two laps together.”
Next out would be Owen Jelf and as the British driver’s time came through Lundin felt slightly easier. He felt confident that he could beat the time set by the BaBa driver but it nearly didn’t happen when he misjudged the wind speed. “I was flying too high on my first lap” said Lundin, “I was ready for it on the next lap though” resulting in his first pole position since Campione back in June.
Lining up alongside the recently crowned 2016 UIM F2 World Champion will be Jelf who posted a season’s best qualifying position. “Yes, I was really pushing it too the limit today” said the British driver, “Sometimes you have to take measured risks to achieve your goal. I have to say the team did a fantastic job getting both the boat and myself ready, they even sent me off to bed at 9pm last night. I know I have an outside chance of finishing third in the world championships and with the help of my radioman Massimo Roggerio we are going to give it our best shot.”
The man that Jelf has to beat to achieve that bronze medal will be lining up alongside him when the boats take to the start grid tomorrow afternoon and he will also have an experienced radioman in the shape of Michael Werner talking him through the race. “I’m happy with the way I drove today” said Temper “We had a lot of issues this morning but the team managed to solve them and now I’m really looking forward to my battle for that bronze, the race won’t be easy, this season has shown that anything can happen, so let’s just wait and see.”
The action gets under way with the F2 warm-up at 10:15, then the competitors will began their parade lap at 15:30 before the Grand Prix of Portugal commences at 15:45.
